Page 102 of Shadowing You

The woman answered, though her voice was softer. She didn’t sound angry or nervous.

The man spoke again, sharper. Then there were the heavy thuds of boots on tile. Hangers clattered to the floor.

Mei Lin grabbed his arm, her fingers biting into his skin.

He didn’t dare move, or breathe.

Lord, please…

Minutes passed as the boots sounded, sometimes closer, sometimes farther away. Then, they receded.

The bell rang again.

The voices in the front of the shop went on for a few more beats, ordinary now, the rhythm of someone giving directions. It was quiet.

A minute passed, maybe two.

Then a key turned in the lock, and the door opened. The older woman held a finger to her lips and drew them out. They padded down the hall, past a tiny galley kitchen to a door at the back.

Ethan raised the volume on the phone again and whispered, “One sec.”

“Go.” Alyssa sounded frustrated. “What are you waiting for? You’re going to miss your…” Her voice trailed.

The older woman was giving Mei Lin a look, shaking her head.

Alyssa came back. “Wait. I see… There’s a guy at the corner. I thought he was a civilian, but I think… Yeah, he’s looking for something. Or someone.”

Both the woman and Mei Lin looked focused, but not frightened. They knew what was going on. Even Alyssa, a half a world away, knew what was going on.

He was the only one who didn’t.

He couldn’t hear his watch ticking, but he felt every second anyway.

The older woman was still as a statue, her hand on the doorknob, head tilted as if she were listening to the air.

And then, two brisk knocks sounded on the other side of the door.

At the same time, Alyssa said, “It’s clear. He moved on.”

The woman opened the door. A younger man stood on the other side, right in front of it.

The woman spoke to Mei Lin, pointing across a narrow side street at a doorway draped with strips of red plastic—another shop, hardware or housewares, he couldn’t tell from this angle.

Mei Lin gave her a quick hug, then grabbed Ethan’s hand. “Let’s go.” They ran to the store.

“What are you doing?” Alyssa asked.

“I don’t know.” He sprinted after his wife. “But Mei Lin does, and these people are helping us.”

Alyssa was quiet as they reached the red strips and stepped into a shop full of buckets and brooms. A man at the back waved them through a curtain into the back of yet another shop—this one smelled like fish—and out a side door.

They stepped into an alley so narrow Ethan could touch both walls with his elbows.

“I lost you,” Alyssa said.

“That’s good, right?” It meant there were no cameras. He doubted many people came this way. It smelled like trash and death. A thin stream made its way down the center. He didn’t want to think about where it came from. “We’re in an alley to the side of the building we just ran into.”

“Hold on.”